Go for it - Kentucky needs to look at hemp

Winchester Sun (KY)
Tuesday, February 20, 2001


Hats off to members of the Kentucky House of Representatives, including State Rep.  R.J.  Palmer of Clark County, for passing legislation that could lead to university research of the economic and agricultural future of hemp, and perhaps someday to a new source of revenue for Kentucky farmers.

But for all the good industrial hemp could bring, some already are up in arms because they wrongly equate hemp with marijuana.  That's extremely unfortunate, because while industrial hemp is a cousin to marijuana, it is chemically different and incapable of being used as a drug.  But while no one would get 'high' by smoking it, industrial hemp could prove to be an excellent alternative crop for Kentucky's tobacco farmers who continue to see their top cash crop come under assault from virtually every quarter.

Hemp once was cultivated, not only in Clark County, but in many areas of the United States for use in the manufacture of rope.  Indeed, when this country's source of hemp from abroad was cut off during World War II, Americans were encouraged to grow hemp.  Industrial hemp continued to be grown in this country until the 1950s, when it fell into disfavor because the Federal Bureau of Narcotics wrongly lumped it with marijuana, as the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Agency and many others continue to do until this day.

While nearly every country in the world has legalized hemp production, the United States hasn't, although industrial hemp may be imported and processed.  That means Kentucky farmers and their counterparts across the country must stand by and watch while farmers in other countries reap the rewards for growing a crop that could just as easily be grown in the United States.

At last count, more than 25,000 products could be made from hemp, everything from rope, cloth, paper, paint and plastics to diesel fuel, particleboard, beams, posts, even hemp seed oil rich in vitamin-B.

In addition to authorizing university study of the agricultural uses for industrial hemp, the House measure instructs the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to 'promote the research and development' of markets for Kentucky industrial hemp and hemp products and creates the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission to develop recommendations on industrial hemp legislation and to address law enforcement concerns.

Certainly the concerns of law enforcement agencies must be taken into consideration.  But while there are similarities between hemp and marijuana, there are some distinct differences, and if other countries can distinguish between the two, surely its should not be a problem in the United States, a world leader in technology.  Nor is it likely that someone would attempt to grow marijuana amid hemp plants, because hemp plants are tightly spaced to maximize stalk development, while marijuana is widely spaced to maximize flowers and leaves.

Many questions about industrial hemp clearly need to be addressed, and the House has taken a very important first step toward obtaining those answers.  The measure still must win Senate approval and hopefully the members of that body also will have the courage to step boldly into the 21st century and likewise vote to authorize a study of industrial hemp to see if it might be Kentucky's long-awaited alternative crop to tobacco.